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Marine Le Pen, president of the party Rassemblement national, came to negotiate in person, Wednesday, May 29 in Brussels, while she is no longer a MEP. The French pleads for the creation of a large group of European nationalists in the Parliament of Strasbourg, she promised during his campaign.
With our special correspondent in Belgium, Anne Soetemondt
In Brussels, Marine Le Pen has multiplied the meetings on Wednesday. It is not easy to know what is going on, the time being for the moment at negotiation behind the scenes between parties rather than communication. And for good reason, we are at the beginning; many things can move in the coming weeks.
To swell the ranks of the original group in which sits the RN, Europe of nations and freedoms (ENL), Marine Le Pen has made the trip, while she will no longer sit in Strasbourg. Diplomacy is for the leader of the party, she usually says. Jordan Bardella, the top of the list, is not traveling.
The challenge for the RN, which topped the European elections on Sunday , is to convince newcomers, for example the three elected Spanish Vox, to sit in the group of the RN and the Austrian FPÖ, which is also that of the Italian League, to form the mega-group promised during the campaign.
Far from the big European parties
Beware however: in fact, the party maneuver is rather that of Matteo Salvini, said Wednesday a participant, the Italians with more MEPs than the RN. No matter, Marine Le Pen plays here the conductor. On Tuesday, she was optimistic, citing a group of at least 77 MEPs.
That would be better than the outgoing delegation, which included 42 elected representatives. But for the moment, we are far from a powerful continental nationalist group. By way of comparison, the European People's Party (EPP, classical right) could win nearly 180 seats in the new enclosure.
Far from a group that would truly unify the European nationalists, since the Poles of the PiS, for example, still resist and intend to keep a second nationalist group.